When it comes to helping our children succeed academically, decoding is an essential skill. But what exactly is decoding, and why is it so important? In this blog post, we’ll go over the basics of decoding and its importance in helping your child become a better reader.

What Is Decoding?
Decoding is the ability to use what you know about individual letters and sounds to read words accurately. It involves breaking down words into their component sounds which are then blended together to form a word. For example, when reading the word “cat”, a child needs to be able to sound out each letter (c-a-t) before blending them together (/k/ /æ/ /t/) to form the word “cat”. This process of breaking words down into their individual sounds and then blending them together again is known as phonemic awareness.

Why Is Decoding Important?
Decoding is important because it helps children understand that written language consists of small units of meaning called phonemes (sounds). By understanding phonemes, they can learn how to break down words into their individual sounds and blend those sounds back together again. This gives them the ability to read unfamiliar words without having to memorise them — which helps improve their fluency and comprehension. It also allows them to spell new words since they have a better understanding of how each letter corresponds with a particular sound or phoneme.

In addition, learning how to decode helps children acquire new vocabulary more quickly since they are able to identify unfamiliar words by sounding them out instead of relying solely on context clues or memorisation techniques. This can give them an edge in school since they are able to comprehend text more easily and have greater access to information than their peers who lack strong decoding skills.

Decoding plays an essential role in helping your child become a successful reader. Being able to decode enables your child not only to identify unfamiliar words but also comprehend texts more quickly while building up their vocabulary along the way. If you want your child to get ahead in school and have access to more knowledge, helping them build strong decoding skills should be one of your top priorities!